Nasrallah on Syria

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By As'ad AbuKhalil - Thu, 2012-07-26 15:44- Angry Corner

So Hassan Nasrallah delivered yet another speech on Syria last week. It came on the heels of the explosion(?) in Damascus that targeted key leaders of the military-intelligence apparatus. There were high expectations regarding the speech. Both sides anticipated the speech as if it was going to bring a new element to Hezbollah’s stance, but it did not. Far from that, the speech entrenched the party's position alongside the regime.

In that speech, Hassan Nasrallah spoke not in his capacity as the leader of Hezbollah, but as the leader of the mumanaa (refusalness) camp which includes Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. Hamas was another member of this camp until recently. It was clear that Nasrallah went all out in his defense of the Syrian regime and in his tribute to the key henchman of the military-intelligence apparatus.

In the Western press – and in the Saudi-funded and Qatari-funded press – Nasrallah was caricatured and represented as a mere tool of the Syrian and Iranian regime. Such analysis disregards the fact that Nasrallah has attained a regional stature that put him on the same level with Ahmadinejad and Bashar al-Assad. It is not an exaggeration to maintain that Nasrallah has a lot of clout in Iran and Syria.

But the speech basically declared that Hezbollah has decided to go all the way in its support of the Syrian regime. Hezbollah has decided that his enemies (US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel) have basically took over the cause of ridding Syrians of the Assad regime from the Syrian armed and unarmed opposition.

Hezbollah decided that the talk of reform is now irrelevant and that there is a regional and international war going on and that Hezbollah is up to the challenge. There is one line in that speech that summarizes the long speech. In it, Nasrallah declared its party’s readiness to fight. Nasrallah basically said that defending the Syrian regime is now part of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But Hezbollah has yet again displayed disregard for the suffering of the Syrian people. How could Nasrallah express sympathy for the dead henchmen of the regime – even if they rendered services to Hezbollah in its fight against Israel – and not express sympathy for the any of the civilian victims of the regime? Hezbollah, like all allies of the Syrian regime in Lebanon from the Phalanges in 1976 to Jumblatt and Hariri and many others, never really expressed concerns for the welfare of the Syrian people.

The alliance with the regime and the extraction of political and military benefits exceeded other humanitarian considerations. But still the voices against Hezbollah in the Syrian exile opposition are rather hypocritical. They had started peddling (false) stories about the presence of Hezbollah fighters in Syria before Hezbollah had a chance to respond to the developments in the country.

They attacked, and singled out, Hezbollah before waiting to hear its reaction. The agenda was set in advance. The foes of Israel had to be attacked by an opposition group that acts as a mere vehicle for Israel’s (not Syria’s) friends in the region and beyond. And with the rising sectarian rhetoric in the Syrian Brotherhood-affiliated opposition, Would Hezbollah have been welcomed had it decided to throw its lot in with the Syrian opposition? Would the Syrian exile opposition have been satisfied if Nasrallah declared opposition to Bashar? Probably not, and the opposition would have asked Nasrallah to personally shoot Bashar in that case.

The demands would have been made to be impossible no matter what because the demands themselves are not sincere. The Israeli coalition in the region was going to go after Hezbollah no matter what position it took in the conflict in Syria.

The conflict in Syria is a world war in which sides have been taken and Israel is a full participant in the conflict beyond the few Mossad agents reported “near the border with Syria”. There is a proxy war in Syria and the Syrian people are paying a double price for that conflict.

If Hezbollah feels it can only choose the side that is opposed to Israel, it should know that it has alienated a large section of the Syrian people. Especially since it had posed as a champion of the Arab uprisings when they erupted. Hezbollah media now characterize most Arab uprisings – except for Bahrain – as an American-hatched conspiracy.

While Hezbollah is right, from its standpoint, to be most focused on its supply line from Syria and on the military support it has received from the regime. It has to know that support from the people of Syria lasts far longer than support from a regime that sooner or later will go down.

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Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2012-07-28 16:11.

Lidia demoliished your "blarney" Mark. Time for you to pack up your happiness caravan and move off into the sunset where you can hold late night circle jerks with Robert Fisk and your mutual Jesuit "handler", Father O'Flaccid.

he is an oldage man being a crazy n illogical in his logic.i cd'nt guess him wat wd he like to shape mid east,a very confused n of sick nature.i thnk he is intentionally creating confusion on the issues bcoz he loves to be staying in US Z .abt Libya he hd strong reservations on Qaddafi rule,but now i thought he is satisfied with rebels rule in libya.he showed grave concerns abt al qaeda's presence in syria on one side,while condemning asad rule on otherside .so somethng wrong with hm.he is either confused in his mind or confusing creator,a spin master.problem is simple tht greater israel is going to be emerged,fr tht syria,iraq n lebnon are in the process of demarcatisation and smaller sunni,shia,n christian states in the western mills.how many ppl die ,may die no matter.fr safety n security of israhell it wd be done.

The difference between Hizbullah and Angry man is simple. The former is an active and established political organization in war with Israel and is under the threat of elimination--hence its actions and words are were calculated. The latter, on the other hand, is 'philosophiser' who has lots of time on his hands to make moral judgements from across the seas. Politics, Dr. Angry man, is about realistic possibilities, threats and opportunities; it is not ideals generated in the mist of luxury. Relax!

Throughout the years, Hizballah has been enjoying Syrian support and didn't interfere in human right issues in Syria.

Now, Syria is in trouble and there's a chance that the regime might fall.

If Nasrallah NOW condemned human right abuses in Syria then he would have been an opportunist second to none.

Such ugly opportunism is characterising the Western foreign policy, as exemplified by their attitude towards their ally Mubarak - the minute he got into trouble they switched sides, labelling him "dictator".

Fortunately not Nasrallah - just like Hugo Chavez, Nasrallah is leading a moral oriented foreign policy.

So why has there been non-stop and constant takhween from Hezbollah and Al-Manar of all of the Syrian opposition from the beginning of the Syrian uprising and no takhween whatsoever directed towards Chalabi and the INC who were inciting the Zionist Neocons and the Americans for years to attack Iraq, their Afghan and Iraqi allies who rode to power on American tanks, and who took billions from the Americans? Instead, Chalabi and Ja'fari are lavishly welcomed in Beirut, proving that Nasrallah is a leading a double-faced sectarian oriented foreign policy.

A real waste-of-time article!
1 out of 10
saying one thing and the other, mixing truth with nonsense!
Is that the same "Angry Arab" we used to like ? .. Nay!
Angry Arab had a personal problem with the Syrian government, and he keeps calling it "regime", just like all the mainstream media who is attacking both Hezbollah & Syria. He is the only humanitarian author on the stage, isn't he ? I knew that the last speech would trigger something from our Leftists author, but I never thought that it'll be that shallow!
Hard luck, Mr. Angry!

The main issues in Israel right are how to get a few yeshiva bochrim to warm seats in some back office and the price of cottage cheese. America is obsessing over the social implications of the Dark Knight movie and a presidential gaffe about small businesses. Otherwise, everybody's on summer vacay enjoying themselves.

By contrast, you are an Ummah of 1.5 billion suicide bombers. An Axis of Resistance - in the spirit of the Koranic alliance with Nazi Axis during WWII. And the Arabian alliance with Communism through the Cold War.

And yet you can't wipe your ass without whining about the Jews.

If you seriously think that anybody in the United States or Israel cares enough to get involved in your theological squabbles, you ought to get out more. Nobody cares. The latest costume worn by Lady Gaga is infinitely more interesting than the ongoing Koranic intrigue in Syria.

If 100,000 Lebanese or Syrians were butchered tomorrow would it even make the evening news? Nobody cares. Stop trying to get Daddy's attention, and figure it out on your own for once.

Yes, USA is busy burning because they fired almost all firefighters, while still not fired cops are busy murdering citizens with not right skin color. USA people are busy lining at soup kitchens, while still do not saying a word against their capitalists who are going fat on robbing them, while preparing to "elect" one of two pals of the same fat cats, it is call "democracy", you know. USA army is busy remote(coward) slaughtering people all over the world, including their own citizens, if Obama order them, but still having their asses kicked in places when they have had at least one ball to fight as real soldiers. CIA is busy arming and founding the same people who did 9/11, spending money that are not used to fight fires or to pay good wages. But sure, USA citizens are not interested is all above, only in the latest costume worn by Lady Gaga.

Zionists are "enjoying" rising prices and lack of electricity, thanks to Egyptian people closing way to Zionist lackeys in Egypt to send gas to Israel for a song. And Zionists are going to to war with Hezbollah, and I have heard they are stoking washing power to their "brave" IOF pants and extra boots for them, because IOF had lost a lot of they while running from Lebanon last time.

Zionists fighted for Hitler against UK, and then turned to be "Israel prime minister". USA gave shelter to the Nazi criminals wholesale, and made Al-Qaida why "fighting communists". In short, both are great...criminal states, often fostering not just terrorists, but terrorists who sometimes blow them up LOL

Judging from your broken English and ridiculous BS about the US you have never seen nor will ever see, I would guess you are old Soviet "journalist" who used to write for "Pravda". You forgot to mention "unemployed dying from hunger in the streets" though

Judging from anon ignorant arrogance he is a true American. Of course, he has been in the ME about which he posts :) But I would not call him CNN/FOX journo, because they at least know a bit about what is going on in USA :) Everyone not banned by Google could know what is with fired firefighters, homes fraudulently foreclosed by banks, and USA occupation army not able to defeat a rag-tag bands in god-forsaken land.

Anon also forgot to mention 'Saddam WMD" and "flowers and sweets" from grateful Iraqis. Yes, USA ruined Iraq, but now USA has left with not so much brag about else - no wonder that for anon the stupidity of Americans interested in Gaga rags while their home is literally on fire is something to brag about LOL

By the way, I know 4 languages, good enough at least to read and right. I wonder, how many knows the anon?

"another proof that exile Syrian opposition is a tool of Saudi Arabia
Saudi cleric, Shaykh Nimr An-Nimr, was unequivocal in his public remarks. He equally denounced the regimes of Bashshar Al-Asad and the Bahraini royal family. He was clear in his stance against tyrants. Yet, there was not one voice from any member of the Syrian opposition to support him or to call for his release."

So why should I believe you when you make takhween of all "Wahabis" and Salafis in Saudi when that is brazen lie when many of them opposed the treachery of Aal-Su'ood and their ulama as-salateen since the time of the British stooge, Abdul-Aziz to Gulf War I and II, when dozens of their ulama and shuyookh and thousands of their followers opposed the treachery of the Saudi regime and thousands of them are currently in Saudi dungeons and hundreds of their shuyookh, in and outside of Saudi, condemned the treachery of the Saudi regime? This is in contrast to the total silence( with the exception of yourself and Subhi at-Tufayli) of your people, the Lebanese Shi'ites, and the sectarian cowards from the Iranian regime, Amal and Hezbollah who were totally silent when their allies like Chalabi, Bayati and the INC were cavorting and inciting the Neocons to attack Iraq, when their allies like Hizb ad-Da'wa, SCIRI, Northern Alliance, Hezb-Wehdat, Maliki, Ja'fari, Aal-Hakim, Chalabi and others rode to power on American tanks taking billions from the Americans, while they have been engaging in non-stop takhween of all of the Syrian opposition from the beginning.

As for Nimr and his "unequivocal" condemnation of Bashar, then I don't believe it for a second
considering that the Qatifi and Bahrani opposition like the Qatifi, Hassan as-Saffar, were hosted for years by Hafez al-Assad, and I am unaware of them subsequently condemning him, nor did Nimr condemn the unequivocal support of the Iranian regime whom he fawns over or the overwhelming majority of the Shi'ites who supported the Assadi regime for decades. And since you, As'ad, are going to be speaking to members of the Qatifi opposition, why don't you question their "mumana'a" credentials and why they were the biggest supporters of the American occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and why one of their leaders, Ali al-Ahmed is cavorting with the Neocons and CBN:

support from the people of Syria? Last time I checked there is not single-minded "people of Syria". At least part of them support Assad, or just do not support "the Syrian armed and unarmed opposition", which are really not much more than NATO/GCC lackeys. LCC are big fans of F$A, for example.

America founded and created Al Qaeda- not Hezbollah or Iran. America STILL supports and uses Al CIAduh, as do the other western govts now. CIAduh is their mercs for hire invasion force.
Too bad there are no good actors in this broad regional turmoil except the disempowered average civilians- whom all sides pretend to speak and act for. For those thinking that the "resistance axis" of Iran-Hezb-Syria is an alternative to western domination? Dont mistake the small a$$holes as being any better than the Big ones. The 'axis' will sell you out and betray you just as fast as the 'Big Powers' they are fighting.

There were people who said that it does not matter whether Saddam or NATO rule Iraq. 9 years and millions of murdered and exiled Iraqis after this "wise" opinion, and with Iraq ruined for long time, I suppose one should know better.

" They had started peddling (false) stories about the presence of Hezbollah fighters in Syria before Hezbollah had a chance to respond to the developments in the country. "

Nonsense, and Hezbollah(and Amal) were already engaging in a propaganda war against the Syrian opposition at the time and whether or not Hezbollah has a presence on Syrian ground is disputed, but there is no doubt that Hezbollah deported many anti-Bashar Syrians to the Assadi regime and provided logistical and mukhabarati support to the Assadi regime. Then a sectarian hypocrite like As'ad has the audacity to compare Hamas's position to Hezbollah, revealing his childishness. And where were the sectarian hypocrites of Amal and Hezbollah and their hypocritical takhween, when their Iraqi allies like Chalabi were cavorting with the Zionist Neocons, and their Afghan and Iraqi allies riding American tanks into power taking billions from them along the way? They were non-existent, then they have the audacity to deny their sectarianism!

You're a typical lying salafi who keeps repeating lies like a broken record. That's the only weapon that the salafis do (especially of the gulfies and the egyptians) because they rely on the fact that their educational system, islamic or otherwise has killed all the brain power of their people.
Here you go you lying salafi. Here's a youtube clip of Sayed Nasrallah's position on the invasion and occupation of Iraq: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R8rjtjL5A8

"You're a typical lying salafi who keeps repeating lies like a broken record."
The ones who are lying are the Iranian regime, Amal and Hezbollah who have been engaging in non-stop takhween since the beginning of the Syrian uprising while being totally silent on their allies who rode to power on American tanks in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I will gladly retract any lies if you point them out.

"That's the only weapon that the salafis do (especially of the gulfies and the egyptians) because they rely on the fact that their educational system, islamic or otherwise has killed all the brain power of their people."

I wonder who was and still are by the tens of thousands in the dungeons of the Egyptian and Saudi regimes who opposed the treachery of these regimes? They must be pro-Iranian figures!

"Here you go you lying salafi. Here's a youtube clip of Sayed Nasrallah's position on the invasion and occupation of Iraq: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R8rjtjL5A8"

Did you read my post? Where was Nasrallah's takhween against Chalabi, Ja'fari, Karzai, etc. at the time?

Didn't utter a single what?
Abu Umar is mentally exhausted it seems. He's starting to drop words from his refrain. That's what salafi education does to you. It kills a huge part of your brain and you can only learn a few lines and repeat them over and over. But even that is failing now. :)

only affection for the 'resistance', and sectarianism can explain As'ad's absurd suggestion that hurtful " false stories " had any bearing on Hizbo's decision to follow its financial,and ( always primary ) sectarian interests. Are we to believe that hurtful propaganda prevented Hizbo from doing the Right Thing ?? But the greatest testament to the power of sectarianism in this war is AQ sending its faithful to fight in parallel with the designs of KSA,Gulfies, and the Great Hegemon,

Nassrallah is repeating the same mistake that the syrian regime did for 30 years in Lebanon (getting their nose in everything). And, that's why Nassrallah should shut up, and stop pretending to be a half-god.

If "the Syrian people" aka F$A are busy kidnapping the Lebanese, it seems Hezbollah has something to do with such "business". By the way, what about Killary, Saudi royals and Zionists shutting their mouthes and also stopping to murder Syrians?

"If Hezbollah feels it can only choose the side that is opposed to Israel, it should know that it has alienated a large section of the Syrian people."

You should also remember that had Hizbullah chosen the side of the "opposition" then it would have also alienates a large section of the Syrian people.

Putting aside the time-wasting arguments about which section is bigger, it is a no-brainer. The "large" section of the Syrian people that support the "opposition" are serving the interests of the Zionists' friends, whether they know it or not. Some are just looking for revenge and unwilling to take into account the catastrophic regional implications if Syria were to become a Saudi/US client state. And to me, as a Syrian, such people do not deserve much sympathy.

I am very upset that in a country where many people were already having a hard time making a living, now the problems have become 100 times worse with sanctions and criminals kidnapping, raping, killing, stealing, all with wide Western and regional support. Even worse, those criminals are the "Syrian people" according to the media. The rest are just shabbi7a.

If my choice is between shabbi7a and dabbi7a, then ahlan wa sahlan ya shabbi7a!

he praised asef shawkat!!!!
imad mughnieh was killed under asef shawkat's window.
and it was asef shawkat who (according to wikileaks) was the most important funder and organizer of al-qaeda in iraq, which focused almost exclusively on killing shiites, which it killed in the thousands.
but not to worry, the sayyed can square any circle and his supporters will keep applauding.

I would like to know who stated this very improbable staff that wikileaks cited. After all, they published a lot of rubbish by USA/Zionist "experts" - no wikilieaks fault if NATO/Zionists are stupid lairs. But it looks even more stupid that "Saddam was Al-Qaida pal".

"Days ago, Nawaf al-Fares, the former Syrian ambassador to Iraq who has become the country's highest-level diplomatic defector, told CNN that Shawkat had run an al Qaeda in Iraq training camp". I would not believe him if he said "Good morning".

I am sure Shawkat was not a nice figure, but if MarK wants us not to laugh at him, he'd better find something more plausible.

exactly as I have thought :(
A VERY Zionist rightist rag repeating like gospel some stupid USA Zionist lairs. If SD said that Chaves is dictator (they do, by the way), I would not rush to agree. More than that, if DC said and WS repeated that sun is hot, I would check it very hard :)

they are quoting wikileaks word for word... they are lifting direct quotes. what more do you want?!!!!! hasan nasrallah himself said wikileaks are very reliable. the people quoted by wikileaks admitted that wikileaks are true.... you can even ignore that article and search for those quotes directly in wikileaks.

i think you are just refusing to face reality. the truth is scary isn't it?

They are quoting USA SD ! I have mentioned 2(!) times before that wikileaks publish anything, including stupid lies and self lies (see Stratfor), because imperialist documents are full of lies, esp. regarding their foes - it is not wikileaks fault, of course.

What reality? That USA accuse their foes of all sins without any proof? Has Mark ever heard about USA propaganda against USSR, Cuba, Chili and so on? It was in SD "documents" as well. And in this case it was USA itself who had made AQ, so it is even more b...s... than usual.

The last time: If Mark wants to curse Assad and his rule his is welcome. But a bit of brain-usage first, or I would not ever take him seriously.

I suppose Mark still cannot get the difference between him and Nasrallah. I suppose it is because Nasrallah knows a bit about how to use imperialist documents, he, for ex, mocks Zionist "internal" documents about them knowing where Hezballah rockets were.

By the way, As'ad all the time mocks USA SD for using Zionists as "experts" in the ME. They sure write INTERNAL documents.

Last I checked Saddam's WMD were in "INTERNAL documents" too. So Mark could go on and blame Saddam for them.

prime minister maliki accused bashar assad of sending jihadist to iraq and demanded that an international tribunal be opened in that regard. lebanese deputy asem qanso openly organized jihadists to be sent to iraq through syrian territory. he was on tv saying so.

DS is not a friend of "lebanese deputy asem qanso", so if it printed his accusations like this:

"Challenging Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s remarks that Lebanon is Al-Qaeda-free, Baath Party MP Assem Qanso has said the Islamist organization has infiltrated a number of extremist groups in Lebanon.

“Al-Qaeda has infiltrated more than 20 fundamentalist organizations that [share similar ideologies to Al-Qaeda],” Qanso said in remarks published Monday by pan-Arab Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat...

Qanso said Salafi movements in north Lebanon and several areas in the eastern Bekaa Valley have provided “fertile ground” for the spread of Al-Qaeda in Lebanon.

He said the Salafis also helped Al-Qaeda members infiltrate into Homs, Al-Qusair and Tal Kalakh in Syria “to fight in order to weaken Syria in an attempt to topple it.”
and did not add anything about his supposed role of "openly organized jihadists to be sent to iraq through syrian territory" it means or there was another "lebanese deputy asem qanso", or mark knows nothing and even less about what he writes.

What it had to do with AQ? he is a SHIA, for allah' sake. And I pointed that DS has not mentioned his supposed "AQ connections", even though it would be a great point to made against him, who, one more time, is not a favorite of the paper, as far as I know.

Not that I am obliged to believe words by Mark who, in turn, has a great faith to USA government (never had lied, this one, yeah) and Weekly Standard!